Epidemic Disease and Society in the Premodern Low Countries

by Daniel R. Curtis

296 pages, Hardcover

Published February 26, 2026

Reviews

[Adrian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book in which the author raises questions that are rarely, if ever, asked. What fascinates me most is the way epidemics are routinely described as unusual events, despite the fact that they occurred with remarkable regularity and that communities generally knew how to cope with them. At what point does something unusual become ordinary? The cyclical recurrence of a phenomenon may eventually strip it of its status as an "extraordinary event."
It is equally striking that diseases are so often portrayed as catalysts for sweeping social change. Yet when Curtis takes us by the hand and leads us into individual households, very little appears to change at all. Everyday life persists, while the wider community often actively resists change rather than embracing it.